REVIEW  OF  COESTER'S 
"THE  LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA" 


BY 


WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD 


Reprinted  from  the  ROMANIC  REVIEW,  Vol.  VIII,  No.  2. 


[Reprinted  from  THE  ROMANIC  REVIEW,  Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  April-June,  1917.] 


REVIEWS 

The  Literary  History  of  Spanish  America.    By  ALFRED  COESTER,  Pn.D.    New 
York,  The  Macmillan  Company,  1916.    8vo,  pp.  xii,  495. 

Of  all  the  huge  areas  on  earth  occupied  more  or  less  by  civilized  folk  none 
has  been  accorded  relatively  so  scant  an  international  recognition  as  the  region 
south  of  the  United  States.  The  several  countries  and  their  inhabitants  have 
been  surveyed  with  an  eye  to  economic  exploitation  and  measured  in  terms  of 
political  incapacity,  but  in  most  other  respects  they  have  been  left  out  of  consid- 
eration. In  this  realm  of  omission  the  absence  of  regard  for  purely  intellectual 
achievement  is  conspicuous.  And  yet  this  is  just  the  factor  in  the  life  of  the 
southern  peoples  of  the  New  World  which  the  foreigner  must  learn  to  appreciate, 
if  ever  he  hopes  to  understand  them.  Still  more  is  the  statement  true  if  he 
wishes  to  act  as  their  spokesman  or  interpreter.  Without  such  an  appreciation 
of  the  things  of  the  mind  and  the  spirit,  Pan-Americanism  as  a  form  of  inter- 
national fellowship  will  continue  to  be  a  stock  feature  of  postprandial  effusions 
and  little  else. 

So  far  as  abundance  of  material  is  concerned,  no  one  able  to  read  the  English 
language  need  go  hungry  for  certain  kinds  of  information  about  the  eighteen 
republics  of  Spanish  origin.  Their  fortunes  or  misfortunes  as  colonies,  the  vicis- 
situdes through  which  they  have  passed  as  independent  nations,  and  the  oppor- 
tunities they  offer  to  the  business  man,  the  publicist  and  the  scientist,  have  all 
been  laid  under  contribution  with  varying  degrees  of  success.  But  the  number 
of  works  that  endeavor  to  mark  the  stage  of  intellectuality  reached  by  the 
Spanish  Americans  is  extremely  small.  If  the  seeker  after  knowledge  of  this 
sort  strikes  off  from  the  common  highway  into  the  bypaths  of  thought  and  imagi- 
nation, he  promptly  discovers  that  his  ignorance  of  Spanish  is  a  bar  to  further 
progress.  When,  therefore,  a  kindly  guide  appears  to  lift  the  bar  and  proffers 
a  helping  hand,  the  service  is  one  that  calls  for  due  acknowledgment. 

This  service  has  been  rendered  by  Dr.  Alfred  Coester  in  his  Literary  His- 
tory of  Spanish  America.  It  deserves  recognition,  both  because  of  the  intrinsic 
merits  of  his  work,  and  because  of  the  fact  that  it  is  the  first  book  on  the  subject 
in  any  language.  The  story  it  tells  is  lucid,  readable  and  instructive.  The  work 
possesses  also  the  unique  interest  that  always  attaches1  to  the  deeds  of  the  pioneer. 
Accordingly  its  merits  and  its  defects  alike  should  be  discussed  at  a  length  pro- 
portionate to  such  interest,  and  with  the  candor  that  its  qualities  justify. 

In  his  preface  Dr.  Coester  apparently  accepts  the  judgment  of  Mitre,  the 
Argentine  statesman,  historian  and  poet,  that,  in  spite  of  their  copiousness  and 
the  bond  created  by  a  common  language,  the  writings  of  Spanish  Americans  do 
not  constitute  a  Spanish- American  literature  (page  viii).  The  argument  on 
which  this  thesis  rests  is,  that  the  writings  in  question  have  no  logical  unity  and 
afford  no  evidence  of  an  "  evolution  toward  a  definite  goal."  From  it  the  con- 
clusion follows  that  the  literary  productions  of  Spanish  Americans  are  properly 
to  be  regarded,  "not  as  models,  but  as  facts,  classified  as  the  expression  of  .their 

227 


228  The  Romanic  Review 

social  life  during  three  periods,  the  colonial  epoch,  the  struggle  for  freedom,  and 
the  independent  existence  of  the  several  republics."  On  such  an  assumption  the 
plan  of  the  work  has  been  constructed.  Its  contour  is  moulded  along  the  broad 
lines  of  political  history. 

Realizing,  however,  the  undesirability  of  making  his  characterization  of 
Spanish-American  writings  quite  so  rigid,  Dr.  Coester  observes  (page  viii)  that 
the  judgment  to  be  rendered  on  the  value  of  Spanish- American  literature  depends 
entirely  on  the  point  of  view  from  which  its  study  is  approached.  If  the  critic 
holds  that  the  productions  are  merely  a  branch  or  suborder  of  the  genus  Spanish, 
or  that  they  are  largely  an  imitation  of  French  models,  he  is  thinking  of  form 
and  not  of  substance.  Both  the  significance  and  the  originality  of  Spanish- 
American  literature,  on  the  contrary,  spring  in  spontaneous  fashion  from  the 
difference  between  the  situation  in  the  New  World  and  that  in  Spain  or  else- 
where in  Europe;  they  are  characteristics  that  rise  naturally  out  of  the  history 
and  the  language,  out  of  the  geographical  phenomena  and  the  social  life,  of  the 
countries  with  which  they  are  associated.  Accordingly,  while  the  form  has  been 
more  or  less  imitative  successively  of  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish  and  French  pat- 
terns, and  has  followed  the  varying  phases  of  the  classical,  romantic  and  natural- 
istic schools,  the  subject  matter  in  the  main  has  been  original  (page  x). 

With  reference  to  the  difficulty  of  securing  in  this  country  the  materials 
needed  for  his  labor,  Dr.  Coester  emphasizes  the  fact  that  the  library  of  the 
Hispanic  Society  of  America,  and  that  of  Harvard  University,  are  the  only  ones 
that  contain  really  valuable  collections  of  works  by  Spanish-American  authors. 
Though  bibliographies,  biographical  encyclopedias,  historical  sketches,  essays  and 
anthologies  abound,  it  is  only  in  the  cases  of  Argentina,  Venezuela  and  Uruguay 
that  histories  of  their  respective  literatures  have  been  written.  Even  these  are 
defective  in  various  ways.  Given  the  character  of  his  sources  of  information, 
the  author  frankly  admits  the  possibility  that  he  may  have  misjudged  some 
writers,  and  have  left  out  of  consideration  others  well  worthy  of  inclusion. 

The  precise  function  of  the  present  work  is  declared  to  be  that  of  guidance 
for  "  an  English-speaking  American  .  .  ."  who  desires  a  better  acquaintance  with 
the  mentality  of  his  Spanish-American  neighbors."  Since  what  it  describes  is 
an  "extremely  provincial  type  of  literature,"  great  masterpieces  need  not  be 
expected.  What  one  may  hope  to  learn,  instead,  is  the  effect  produced  on 
Spaniards  by  their  removal  to  the  New  World,  the  mental  and  psychological 
differences  between  national  types,  and  the  reason  for  revolutionary  disturbances. 
Greater  respect,  also,  may  be  gained  for  countries  that  have  struggled  for  free- 
dom and  stability,  and  a  corresponding  appreciation  won  for  the  deeply  religious 
sentiments  of  the  peoples  concerned,  even  if  nothing  more  is  noted  than  the 
Christian  names  of  the  men  of  literature  (pages  x,  xi).  Whether  the  work 
fulfils  all  these  expectations  the  reader  will  have  to  judge  for  himself. 

According  to  the  choice  and  arrangement  of  his  material,  Dr.  Coester  evi- 
dently has  linguistic  Spanish  America  in  mind.  This  is  made  to  comprise  both 
the  region  formerly  under  the  dominion  of  Spain  and  the  various  political  or 
geographical  units  in  which  Spanish  is  still  the  dominant  speech.  The  first  three 
chapters  and  the  closing  one  deal  with  the  broader  concept,  and  the  intervening 
ones  with  the  individual  countries,  or  with  groups  of  them.  Since  the  conditions 
of  life  under  the  rule  of  Spain,  and  the  community  of  aims  during  the  struggle 
for  independence,  imparted  a  certain  similarity  to  literary  productions,  one 


Reviews  229 

chapter  is  allotted  to  the  colonial  period  and  two  to  the  age  of  the  revolution. 
These  make  up  about  one  fifth  of  the  volume.  Then,  since  the  attainment  of 
freedom  enabled  each  country  to  pursue  "its  own  course  in  literature  as  in 
politics,"  the  literary  contributions  of  the  individual  republics,  together  with 
Puerto  Rico,  are  described  in  ten  chapters,  eight  of  which  deal  with  Argentina, 
Uruguay,  Chile,  Ecuador,  Colombia,  Venezuela,  Mexico  and  Cuba  respectively, 
one  treats  Peru  and  Bolivia,  and  one,  collectively,  the  Dominican  Republic, 
Puerto  Rico  and  "  Central  America " — the  last  being  a  designation  for  the  six 
states  situated  there.  The  final  chapter  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  "mod- 
ernista  movement"  in  Spanish  America  at  large.  A  bibliography  and  an  index 
conclude  the  volume. 

So  far  as  the  literary  scope  is  concerned,  the  limits  of  the  book  are  declared 
to  be  such  as  to  "  allow  only  a  casual  mention  of  the  most  important  works  of 
purely  historical  or  scientific  content.  Periodicals,  on  the  other  hand,  have  de- 
manded attention  because,  as  the  means  of  immediate  publicity  .  .  .,  they  have 
often  played  a  considerable  role  .  .  .  and  now  supply  the  investigator  with  much 
material"  (page  xi).  In  both  the  geographical  and  the  literary  sense  the  pro- 
portions are  quite  well  distributed,  except  that  Paraguay  is  omitted  altogether, 
Bolivia  is  dismissed  with  a  paragraph  or  two,  and  the  account  of  the  colonial 
period  is  unduly  brief. 

The  objects,  plan  and  scope  of  the  work  having  thus  been  indicated,  the  precise 
nature  of  its  contribution  to  knowledge  is  now  to  be  discussed.  At  the  outset 
the  reader  familiar  with  conditions  in  the  countries  under  survey  is  disposed  to 
ask  why  -Dr.  Coester  chose  the  title  "  Literary  History,"  rather  than  "  History 
of  Literature."  Quite  apart  from  the  point  whether  or  not  he  believes  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  "  literature  "  in  the  region  concerned,  and  apart  also  from 
the  avowed  limitation  of  scope,  he  does  not  state  specifically  his  determination 
to  include  chiefly  products  of  the  imagination  alone.  The  implied  distinction  he 
makes,  therefore,  between  "  literary "  and  "  literature  "  is  not  entirely  obvious. 
If  it  has  to  do  with  the  difference  between  works  in  which  expression  and  form, 
associated  with  ideas  of  permanent  and  universal  interest,  are  essential  features, 
and  writings  that  are  designed  solely  to  furnish  information,  he  restricts  the 
definition  of  the  word  "  literary "  to  limits  that  are  somewhat  unusual.  Ordi- 
narily not  history  alone,  but  biography,  essays  and  the  criticism  of  literature, 
are  regarded  as  "  literary "  productions.  The  Spanish  Americans  themselves, 
when  treating  the  development  of  thought  and  imagination  in  their  own  coun- 
tries, "usually  include  a  consideration  of  historical  writings"  (page  xi).  If 
so,  were  Dr.  Coester  thoroughly  familiar  with  what  often  passes  for  history 
among  them,  he  might  not  have  put  most  of  it  outside  the  pale  of  works  of 
the  imagination!  The  same  could  be  said,  also,  of  the  voluminous  "mass  of 
political  writings,  many  of  which  are  apt  to  impart  less  knowledge  of  concrete 
affairs  than  to  reflect  mental  and  psychological  moods  or  attitudes,  and  to  reveal 
besides  a  talent  for  rhetorical  eloquence  frequently  beautiful  in  diction.  At  all 
events  his  plea  for  allowance,  "  on  account  of  the  character  of  his  sources  of 
information"  (page  xi),  is  hardly  sufficient  to  cover  his  omission  of  such 
writers  as  Carlos  Calvo  and  Jose  Ingenieros,  and  his  extremely  brief  allusion  to 
Jose  Toribio  Medina  and  Jose  Enrique  Rodo. 

What  the  work  really  supplies  is  an  introductory  record  of  achievement 
mainly  in  the  fields  of  poetry,  romance  and  the  drama.  It  provides  a  more  or 


230  The  Romanic  Review 

less  appropriate  historical  background,  biographical  sketches  of  many  of  the 
authors  cited,  a  descriptive  outline  of  their  chief  works,  and  some  characteriza- 
tion of  the  literary  output  of  the  countries  concerned,  and  within  the  limits 
chosen.  On  the  other  hand,  as  a  rule  it  does  not  indicate  the  sources  of  a  given 
work,  its  nature,  its  qualities  and  the  actual  position  it  occupies  in  the  intellectual 
productivity  of  the  area  under  consideration.  What  the  volume  does  furnish, 
instead,  is  a  series  of  biographical  and  descriptive  items  and  not  a  critical  evalua- 
tion of  literary  accomplishment,  of  types  and  characteristics,  of  the  phases 
through  which  they  have  gone,  of  the  influences,  alike  foreign,  national  and  local, 
by  which  they  have  been  affected,  of  the  spirit  and  of  the  trend  of  a  people's 
mind  and  soul  as  revealed  by  their  literature.  General  characterization  of  the 
writings  of  a  particular  country  is  rarely  vouchsafed.  In  its  absence  the  reader 
has  to  construct  it  out  of  data  scattered  through  the  chapter.  Just  in  what  the 
literary  genius  of  Spanish  America  at  large,  or  of  any  part  of  it,  really  consists, 
in  what  kinds  of  intellectual  endeavor  a  given  state  excels,  are  features  none 
too  clear  in  the  body  of  the  work. 

Only  when  the  chapter  on  the  "  modernista  movement "  is  reached,  and  the 
tacit  help  of  Blanco  Fombona's  writings  has  been  invoked,  is  a  systematic  effort 
made  to  trace  the  development  of  foreign  influences  on  Spanish-American 
thought  as  a  whole,  or  on  that  of  any  Spanish-American  country,  to  point  out 
what  is  inherently  Spanish  American,  what  is  derived  from  Spain,  France  or 
other  European  states,  or  from  other  lands  in  the  New  World  itself.  But  even 
h«re,  after  the  reader  has  traversed  the  literary  vicissitudes  of  so  many  sepa- 
rate countries  without  being  enabled  adequately  to  realize  how  much  or  how 
little  they  were  interrelated,  suddenly  to  be  told  in  the  first  sentence  of  the 
chapter  in  question  that  the  "  year  1888  may  be  adopted  to  make  a  date  for  the 
most  recent  movement  in  Spanish-American  literature"  (page  450),  is  a  bit 
disconcerting.  The  serious  student  cannot  help  starting  to  grope  for  the 
"  Spanish  America  "  he  left  at  the  close  of  the  third  chapter.  Nor  is  his  feeling 
of  bewilderment  lessened  when,  on  further  perusal,  he  can  discover  no  expla- 
nation of  how  the  term  "  modernista  "  originated,  and  has,  besides,  to  compose 
a  definition  of  it  out  of  statements  scattered  through  pages  450,  451,  467,  468 
and  473- 

Perhaps  none  of  the  desiderata  above  mentioned  is  properly  to  be  expected 
in  a  "  literary  history,"  as  distinguished  from  a  "  history  of  literature."  In  that 
case,  and  to  the  extent  that  the  omission  of  any  of  them  is  permissible,  the 
reviewer  is  simply  stating  what  he  had  hoped  somehow  to  find,  regardless  of  the 
indication  carried  by  the  title.  That  his  quest  was  not  rewarded  in  the  measure 
of  his  assumptions,  therefore,  would  be  a  circumstance  not  attributable  to  any 
fault  of  the  author,  but  simply  to  a  licit  divergence  of  opinion  between  the  author 
and  the  reviewer — who,  on  his  own  part,  does  not  pretend  that  an  acceptance  of 
his  views  is  indispensable  for  the  attainment  of  perfection  1  Neither  should 
they,  nor  the  observations  to  follow,  be  regarded  as  partaking  of  the  nature  of 
harsh  or  meticulous  criticism,  for  nothing  of  the  sort  is  intended.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  seems  reasonable  to  protest  a  bit  at  the  assortment  of  names  and 
titles  which  the  volume  provides,  distant  though  such  an  assortment  is  from  the 
array  that  a  Spanish-American  writer,  subject  to  a  like  temptation,  might  have 
presented.  Dr.  Coester,  surely,  could  have  kept  some  of  the  lesser  lights  extin- 
guished and,  instead,  have  advanced  the  greater  ones  to  a  higher  luminosity  by 


Reviews  231 

turning  on  more  power  in  the  elaboration  of  his  descriptions  in  individual  cases, 
and  also  by  furnishing  the  reader  who  does  not  understand  Spanish  with  a 
larger  number  of  translations  from  representative  works.  In  other  respects, 
however,  the  susceptibilities  of  this  kind  of  reader  are  quite  scrupulously  heeded. 

Given  the  absence  of  any  express  statement  that  the  volume  is  designed  to 
serve  merely  as  an  introduction  to  the  subject,  the  difficulties  of  discovery  and 
control  of  material  to  which  the  author  alludes  in  his  preface  might  seem  to 
render  the  covering  of  so  huge  a  field  a  venturesome  performance.  It  would 
have  been  wiser,  perhaps,  to  have  selected  for  treatment  one  country,  or  at  the 
utmost  a  group  of  countries  affiliated  in  a  more  intimate  manner  than  their 
fellows.  That  the  larger  task  has  been  attempted  is  a  tribute  doubtless  to  both 
the  ambition  and  the  good  will  of  the  author;  but  its  effective  realization  was 
precluded  from  the  outset  when  once  it  is  considered  that  many  of  the  works 
themselves  were  not  available  for  his  personal  examination,  and  when  it  is 
obvious  that  he  has  never  visited  the  region  from  which  they  come.  Every- 
where in  the  volume  not  only  the  language  used  but  the  way  in  which  the  works 
are  approached  would  seem  to  show  that  in  most  cases  dependence  is  placed 
upon  histories  of  literature,  accounts  of  intellectual  development,  biographical 
sketches  and  anthologies  written  or  compiled  by  Spaniards  and  Spanish  Ameri- 
cans. The  frequent  mention  of  the  names  of  critics  and  their  opinions,  and 
impersonal  statements  such  as  "little  praise  is  accorded"  (page  116),  evidence 
an  indebtedness,  for  facts,  descriptions  and  estimates,  to  the  writings  of  other 
scholars  which  should  have  been  directly  avowed  rather  than  left  to  the  impli- 
cations of  the  text  itself.  Apposite  footnotes  would  have  been  decidedly  service- 
able in  this  regard,  though  practically  none  is  given.  While  it  would  be  unfair 
to  assert  that  the  work  is  mainly  a  translation  of  excerpts  from  Spanish  writings, 
historical  and  critical,  arranged  in  a  form  suitable  for  readers  of  English,  it  can 
hardly  be  averred,  either,  that  the  task  of  original  investigation  has  extended 
very  far  beyond  a  compilation  of  that  sort.  Useful  though  the  text  is,  it  dis- 
plays quite  often  a  lack  of  personal  handling  and  evaluation  of  the  works  under 
review. 

It  is  true  that  the  "  broad  lines  "  of  political  history  have  been  taken  "  as  a 
guide  through  the  maze  of  print "  (page  viii)  ;  but  those  lines  on  a  good  many 
occasions  are  rather  crooked.  Due  allowance  of  course  must  be  made  for  the 
fact  that  the  work  is  not  a  "  history,"  except  in  the  "  literary  "  sense.  Even  so, 
the  frequency  of  errors  and  dubious  statements  (pages  3,  5,  6,  13,  30,  40,  41, 
46,  52,  62,  77,  79,  83,  103,  104,  125,  245,  261,  304,  431,  444)  would  suggest  the  desir- 
ability of  a  more  accurate  antecedent  knowledge  of  the  historical  background. 
For  example,  the  first  book  printed  in  America  was  the  Escala  Espiritual,  and 
neither  the  title  nor  the  authorship  of  the  one  mentioned  on  page  5  is  correct. 
Histories  did  not  "make  up  the  bulk  of  what  was  written  about  America  and 
in  America"  during  the  colonial  period  (page  6).  Of  the  eight  sentences  con- 
stituting the  second  paragraph  on  page  40,  seven  are  quite  erroneous.  The  form 
of  government  which  the  rebellious  colonies  set  up  was  surely  not  "  that  of  a 
democracy"  (page  41).  Neither  Markham  nor  Mitre  is  always  a  reliable 
mentor  in  matters  where  absolute  impartiality  is  a  requisite  (pages  46,  52).  The 
correspondence  of  Bolivar,  as  edited  by  Blanco  Fombona,  is  far  from  "volu- 
minous" (page  77),  except  in  the  Pickwickian  sense  that  the  selections  offered 
are  contained  in  a  single  volume !  Garcia  Calderon's  work,  though  in  a  meas- 


232  The  Romanic  Review 

ure  "authoritative,"  hardly  includes  the  "whole  history  of  Latin  America" 
(page  261).  In  fact  it  is  not  primarily  a  history  at  all.  Whether  Spain  had 
any  such  policy  as  that  of  "maintaining  the  Creoles  in  ignorance"  (page  304), 
is  exceedingly  doubtful.  The  Dominican  Republic  (not  "  Santo  Domingo ")  is 
situated  in  the  eastern,  and  not  in  the  southern,  part  of  the  island  of  Haiti 
(page  431). 

Several  matters  not  of  historical  import  call  for  comment.  Foreignisms, 
or  odd  expressions,  occur  on  pages  5,  7,  14,  20  and  23.  The  meaning  of  the 
last  sentence  on  page  75  is  obscure.  Just  why  literature  in  Venezuela  "  reflects 
the  progress  of  its  people  toward  a  higher  state  of  culture,"  any  more  than  it  is 
apt  to  do  in  most  countries,  and  why  the  periodical  should  have  been  any  more 
serviceable  as  a  literary  vehicle  there  than  elsewhere,  are  queries  that  the  text 
on  page  305  might  naturally  evoke.  There  is  something  wrong,  also,  about  the 
physical  identity  of  Ima-Sumac  (page  30).  The  story  about  Dona  Dolores 
Veintemilla  de  Galindo,  told  on  page  212,  is  repeated  with  little  variation  on 
page  269.  "  Cartas  de  relation"  (page  485)  is  not  the  name  of  a  periodical. 
The  name  "  Philip "  is  repeatedly  misspelled,  and  the  orthography  of  "  Guade- 
lupe  "  (pages  80,  490)  is  plainly  incorrect.  Typographical  slips  occur  on  pages 
27,  221,  477,  478,  483  and  485.  Cartagena  de  Indias  was  the  name  of  the  Colom- 
bian city  (page  69)  ;  O'Donoju  was  that  of  the  last  viceroy  of  New  Spain  (pages 
83,  491)  ;  de  Rosas,  that  of  the  Argentine  chieftain  (page  106)  ;  Chincha,  that 
of  the  islands  off  the  coast  of  Peru  (page  214),  and  "del  Uruguay,"  the  termi- 
nation of  that  of  the  "  Republica  Oriental"  (page  169).  The  accentuation, 
furthermore,  of  Spanish  names  is  far  from  being  either  uniform  or  correct.  If 
New  Spain  is  called  "  Nueva  Espana,"  assuredly  the  second  syllable  of  "  Peru  " 
and  the  first  syllable  of  "  Mexico "  should  have  an  accent.  Alike  in  the  text, 
the  bibliography  and  the  index  are  found  such  examples  of  misplacement  or 
omission  of  diacritical  marks  as  Alvarez,  Leon  Valdes,  Ines,  Lopez,  Ituzaingo, 
Academia,  Merou,  Amerique,  America  (as  a  Spanish  word),  Martir,  Melian, 
Alvaro,  Mexia,  cientifico,  Saenz  and  Salome.  The  system  of  capitalization 
adopted  in  the  bibliography,  also,  might  be  revised  to  advantage. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  bibliography  (page  477)  Dr.  Coester  states  that  the 
names  of  "  only  those  books  most  useful  to  the  student "  will  be  given ;  but  he 
affords  no  explanation  as  to  the  criteria  by  which  the  selection  in  this  field,  so 
novel  to  the  reader  of  English,  has  been  made.  Treatises  in  Spanish,  recent  and 
having  a  high  degree  of  usefulness,  like  those  by  Sanchez,  Santos  Gonzalez  and 
Garcia  Godoy,  are  not  mentioned.  Even  the  "old  faithful"  Lagomaggiore  is 
ignored.  Something  more  than  Garcia  Calderon's  work  is  needed  to  supply  a 
non-literary  background.  The  colonial  period,  certainly,  does  not  suffer  from 
a  surfeit  of  titles,  and  the  same  is  true  of  some  of  the  individual  countries.  It 
might  not  have  been  amiss,  also,  to  have  alluded  to  earlier  treatises  in  English 
on  Spanish-American  literature,  as,  for  example,  those  by  Ramsey  and  Currier. 

For  additional  information  about  Spanish-American  authors  and  their  pro- 
ductions, Dr.  Coester  refers  the  inquirer  to  an  article  of  his  published  in  the 
ROMANIC  REVIEW.  On  this  point,  however,  it  might  be  suggested  that  the  inter- 
ests of  such  inquirer  would  have  been  served  better  if  the  portions  of  that  article 
bearing  on  the  subject  matter  of  the  present  volume  had  been  inserted  in  the 
bibliography.  A  complete  list  of  the  authors  mentioned  in  the  text,  of  the  titles, 
dates  and  places  of  publication  of  their  works,  would  have  been  a  valuable 


Reviews  233 

accessory  on  the  spot,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  references,  but  as 
a  means  of  impressing  more  graphically  on  the  reader's  mind  the  actual  extent 
of  Spanish-American  contributions  to  literature.  So,  too,  a  list  of  the  produc- 
tions of  Spanish-American  writers  which  have  been  translated  into  English 
would  have  been  altogether  desirable.  The  index,  finally,  should  have  been 
made  to  include  the  titles  of  individual  literary  works,  and  the  names,  also,  of 
the  several  countries  of  Spanish  America. 

WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


